More notes

Today's notes are culled from the pages of the Guardian rather than from the birds and the bees of Epsom.

I see that one of the crimes that the owner of Sports Direct is charged with is docking the pay of people who show up late for work. I am reminded that this was a normal part of workplace discipline when I was young, certainly at the sort of workplaces large enough to run to clocking on.

Another swipe at the branch of the financial services industry which buys up debt cheap and then harrasses the debtors so bought. I am reminded here of this being a useful service for those businesses which are much better at making widgets than at getting the money out of the people who buy the widgets. Perhaps more of an issue in the days when one used to bill quarterly in arrears.

Then there was the hospital that was ordered to improve. If only things were so simple: issue an order and the thing was done. Or 'make it so', as they used to say on Star trek.

Last but not least, the tale of the lady who has managed to talk wrongful dismissal into an amount of money which, while undisclosed, appears to be out of all proportion to either the injury or the offence. Perhaps one would think better of her if she donated the whole lot to the Distressed Footballers Benevolent Fund (DFBF). Dirty business all round, or to paraphrase a well known saying, all money corrupts, but absolutely pots of money corrupt absolutely.

PS: one also wonders whether she actually got a lot less than advertised. That she had calculated that her greed in declining a generous settlement had cost her the sympathy of the court and that she was in danger of winding up with nothing - and so settled out of court for what she could still get. Then there is the question of what proportion of the dibs went to the lawyers?